The waft of stench emanating from Bowdu’s pink and gray tummy is gone. Hair is quickly growing back on that stripe down the middle of his belly.

These and the following photos all from 5 September 2010

His armpits are still really black, but the previously bald spots right at the crux between his leg and his chest now have fine, downy chick fur. And you can see that the fur on his legs is a little more even now (this is part of his natural fur shedding cycle and our regular grooming). The fur around his neck is really tamped down and stiff, due to the cone. I try to take it off and brush the fur loose whenever I can…

But without his cone, he still scratches and chews.

That front left dewclaw is still a bother.

If I block him with my own hand, he’ll lick me instead of himself. It almost seems like the urge is more psychological than physical, since he doesn’t act upset when this privilege is restricted by the cone. He’s quite content to lick my hand for the sake of satisfying some oral fixation. But I can’t always be there as a human pacifier, so back in the cone he goes.

Really hoping to see him out of the cone by the end of the month. His antibiotics (Enrofloxacin) run out in two days, so we’ve got to be absolutely vigilant about not setting him back with renewed infections.